Streetcar

[shawnw]

Those numbers during the week are not so pretty. 251 on the 11th? Ouch

federal holiday maybe impacted?

[Jersey Boss]

federal holiday maybe impacted?

Columbus Day was observed on Monday Oct. 14th

[shawnw]

Columbus Day was observed on Monday Oct. 14th

Oh oops I thought those were November numbers making 11/11 Veterans day but nope....

[jerrywall]

Oh oops I thought those were November numbers making 11/11 Veterans day but nope....

Aren't they? It says Monday, November 11th on the chart....

[BoulderSooner]

Aren't they? It says Monday, November 11th on the chart....

nov 11th was a bitterly cold and windy day .. as well

[Jersey Boss]

Aren't they? It says Monday, November 11th on the chart....

If it was Nov. 11 and not Oct 11 it was a Fed. Holiday. If i misread it than I stand corrected.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

federal holiday maybe impacted?

Shouldn't that impact it positively? The whole argument for the street car was for tourists, so numbers should increase on 3 day weekends.
If street car is for office worker transport, that's a different story. Considering that a loop still takes close to one hour and cars still block the tracks, you really have to decide what your time is worth.
Make the streetcar free. All the time. Accept that it will always be a loss for the city $ wise, but a boon for tourism. Increase the hotel-motel tax if it gets too dicey with free ride maintenance.
And don't start with the whole it can't be free cause Embark isn't free. City Link is free and it interfaces with Embark.

[TheTravellers]

Shouldn't that impact it positively? The whole argument for the street car was for tourists, so numbers should increase on 3 day weekends.
If street car is for office worker transport, that's a different story. Considering that a loop still takes close to one hour and cars still block the tracks, you really have to decide what your time is worth.
Make the streetcar free. All the time. Accept that it will always be a loss for the city $ wise, but a boon for tourism. Increase the hotel-motel tax if it gets too dicey with free ride maintenance.
And don't start with the whole it can't be free cause Embark isn't free. City Link is free and it interfaces with Embark.

I believe there are legal issues for OKC WRT Embark and the streetcar and equal-type service, or at least the threat of legal issues (couldn't do Sunday service for streetcar unless buses were also expanded to run on Sunday, or else lawsuits would happen). Don't remember the exact details, but they're out there.

[Teo9969]

Shouldn't that impact it positively? The whole argument for the street car was for tourists, so numbers should increase on 3 day weekends.
If street car is for office worker transport, that's a different story. Considering that a loop still takes close to one hour and cars still block the tracks, you really have to decide what your time is worth.
Make the streetcar free. All the time. Accept that it will always be a loss for the city $ wise, but a boon for tourism. Increase the hotel-motel tax if it gets too dicey with free ride maintenance.
And don't start with the whole it can't be free cause Embark isn't free. City Link is free and it interfaces with Embark.

Very few people get off on Veteran's day, but a lot of Government gets off on veterans day and there is a lot of gov't downtown. It makes sense.

[Anonymous.]

Was on the streetcar several times this weekend. It was packed. The no-fares thing is a total game changer and removes this huge barrier we have all talked about. It isn't about the cost, it is about the convenience and psychological commitment.


One odd thing, on one of my trips this weekend - the fare officer interrupted everyone in the car asking for their attention. Then he proceeded to explain that he was a fare officer and that this was a free weekend so he wouldn't be checking for passes. Then said if we need any assistance, to go to him. It was very strange and there was like an awkward silence afterwards while everyone collectively had an "okay?" response. I think he was just trying to be helpful, but it came across as very serious in a totally non-serious atmosphere before he spoke.

I like what I am seeing with these free-weekends. Also I am liking all the sponsorships showing up inside the streetcar and displaying on the screens, this all gives me hope to have a fully sponsored streetcar that is permanently free. I say we even need to sell the space on the exterior, let corporations display wraps on the cars. Anything to get these things free.

[Bullbear]

we did a bar crawl to the Myriad gardens last night getting on and off the streetcar at a few locations for drinks. the streetcars were all pretty busy and full which was good to see. I almost thought we would be on mostly empty cars but only a few times was it not really packed. the times displayed at the stops were pretty accurate as well.

[shawnw]

The mayor on the streetcar system, these points seemed relevant to recent discussions...

https://twitter.com/davidfholt/statu...06904372305920

We don’t really have any major challenges. We’ve had over 400,000 riders and costs to the city have been as expected and planned for.

https://twitter.com/davidfholt/statu...30426863759362

1. As per the MAPS model, our system opened w/o debt. Not sure about STL, but lots of systems are still making payments, which puts added pressure on them.

https://twitter.com/davidfholt/statu...30818309775360

2. City leaders laid out the operating costs from Day One. They’re baked into our budget and policymakers have long accepted it. There’s no real pressure to change unless maybe it simply wasn’t meeting a need, but with 400k+ riders that hasn’t been a concern.

[Midtowner]

Proof the streetcar is driving downtown development. This project is huge. This building hasn't been open on the ground level during my lifetime.

https://oklahoman.com/article/565046...irst-high-rise

[Pete]

^

One thing that article does not say is that the insurance company has actually purchased 80% of that building.

And as mentioned some time ago on the Pioneer Building thread, Lagoon water systems is the other company moving in.

[Midtowner]

Failure to pay the "Brand Insight" fee perhaps?

[mugofbeer]

Its a totally baseless hunch, but l bet ridership increases significantly in 2020. From a distance, l would also like to see it fare-free.

[Pete]

^

But keep in mind both the convention center and Omni Hotel will open in the fall, and that could change things dramatically.

Plus, there is a lot of new development coming on-line in 2020, such as Heartland, the Monarch and the Benz.

[OKC Guy]

City of OKC
@cityofokc
Replying to
@cityofokc

@EMBARKOK
and 3 others
.
@EMBARKOK
and
@OKCStreetcar
fares are free on New Year's Eve to offer riders a safe and free transit option. The streetcar will operate until 2 a.m.
9:50 AM · Dec 26, 2019·

[Anonymous.]

I have been getting very inconsistent experiences lately while riding.

Why do some drivers stop at every platform regardless of ‘stop request’ button and no one standing at the platform. This makes the trip incredibly annoying, especially when it causes the streetcar to get stuck at lights and such.

I have some drivers that go past the stops properly, but the majority of the time it seems this isn’t even a policy. Can anyone clarify what official procedure is on this?

[catch22]

Just a wild guess but maybe the dispatcher is requesting some trains to make stops in order to maintain spacing between trains. The train in front may be instructed to only stop when requested in order to pace up, whole the train behind could be instructed to make all stops to decrease its pace.

[OKC Guy]

I have been getting very inconsistent experiences lately while riding.

Why do some drivers stop at every platform regardless of ‘stop request’ button and no one standing at the platform. This makes the trip incredibly annoying, especially when it causes the streetcar to get stuck at lights and such.

I have some drivers that go past the stops properly, but the majority of the time it seems this isn’t even a policy. Can anyone clarify what official procedure is on this?

Like previous poster said its closed loop with multiple cars. To keep pacing if any are delayed the others have to do so equally to keep spacing

[Edmond Hausfrau]

#FreeStreetcarin2020

[Anonymous.]

I thought dwelling zones were the purpose of keeping the cars spaced out. It makes no sense to keep current passengers moving slower than they could be. Unless there is two streetcars following directly behind each other, have the cars use the proper dwelling zones.

[catch22]

You would prefer no movement in lieu of slow movement?

[Pete]